Gladys Shollei reveals ‘reason’ behind her firing from Judiciary
Uasin Gishu Woman Representative Gladys Boss Shollei spoke on the real reason she believes she was unceremoniously fired from her job at the Judiciary Service Commission (JSC) in October 2013.
Speaking earlier this week at the Mozilla Innovation Challenge that was held at the Arboretum, Nairobi, she said that her attempts to push the Judiciary to have judges appear on camera while giving their judgments was the cause for her sacking.
“…I later interacted with technology to be able to use it to improve services in our country when I had the opportunity of starting Kenya Law Report’s website. Those days we used to lick through pages of papers to read judgments…I also had the opportunity to work at the Judiciary and there were many challenges there in trying to introduce technology into those organizations (that she previously worked for). In fact, it did cost me my job. The judges didn’t want to be watched on the internet as they were dispensing justice but today, thanks to Covid, they had no choice and everyone now realizes that we’ve got to focus on technology,” said Ms Shollei.
She revealed this as she spoke of her history with the introduction of the internet in Kenya and technological advancements that followed. At the event, she said she was one of those who vehemently fought for the internet to be an open source in Kenya despite it being said it was illegal to use because no one understood how to use it.
“I’m glad to be part of giving them those opportunities that were not available when I was starting out in the professional world,” said Ms Shollei.
In February 2022, the Supreme Court of Kenya ended up ruling that Ms Shollei had been unlawfully dismissed from the Judicial Service Commission and that they owed her compensation. The JSC had accused Ms Shollei, who served as the Chief Registrar of the Judiciary, for misusing Sh 2.2 billion during her tenure at the Commission. She was also accused of misconduct in the line of duty, insubordination and financial mismanagement. The JSC had brought 87 allegations against her and failed to validate the reasons behind her sacking.
“The least that JSC would have done was to enclose its reasons in the removal letter, the same way it enclosed the allegations against Ms Shollei in its letter dated September 10, 2013. We find that JSC’s reliance of the provision in Section 23 of the Third Schedule to limit Ms Shollei’s right to access to information guaranteed in the Constitution was unfounded,” said the Supreme Court.
The case was then forwarded to the Employment and Labor Relations Court for Ms Shollei’s compensation by the JSC to be determined.
Since she left the judiciary, Ms Boss has successfully contested for the Uasin Gishu woman representaive seat and was recently elected the Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly.
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